The cruise ship exploded.
I didn't even see it at first. I felt it. The shockwave hit my spine like a freight train, and then my whole world tilted.
Metal screeched. Fire belched from somewhere behind me. Heat rolled over my back like a dragon's breath, and the deck beneath my feet ripped open. One moment I was running—maybe screaming, maybe laughing, maybe cursing the universe—and the next, the floor was gone.
Air whipped past me, my arms flailed, and then, I slammed into the ocean like a stone from a slingshot.
Salt burned my eyes and filled my throat. The cold was instant and shocking, numbing every nerve in my body. I sank like a weight, deeper and deeper into the black void, and for a terrifying moment, I couldn't move. My limbs didn't respond. My lungs screamed. I didn't even know which way was up.
Then instinct screamed at me. Survival.
I kicked just once and I shot out of the water like a cannonball.
I must have launched at least ten meters into the air, my body dripping, hair flying, a ragged scream clawing out of my throat. For a second, time slowed and I looked down.
The cruise ship was breaking apart.
Chunks of metal ripped into the air like they were weightless. Fires crawled across the shattered remains. The rear half of the ship dipped into the water at an unnatural angle, groaning as it dragged the rest of the ship into the deep like a dying leviathan.
I saw bodies.
One man was screaming before a section of hull crushed him mid-air. Then I fell again back into the water.
My legs kicked again, stronger this time. I surfaced, coughing and gasping, salt stinging my throat. The screams were gone. All I heard now was the ocean, churning, frothing, and beneath it, a soft, eerie silence.
Then a yacht pulled up beside me. It was smooth, sleek, and way too clean to be in this blood-soaked nightmare.
"Get up," a voice called.
Before I could process it, my body lifted. Not by my own strength but someone else was doing it. I floated up like I was weightless, like the sea itself spat me out. I hovered for half a second above the deck, and then thudded down onto it.
I was soaked, cold and shivering but alive.
And in front of me was a woman.
She was tall, composed, wearing a full-body suit like something out of a comic book, hugging her like armor. It covered her entire body except her head and neck, which were bare, revealing dark mocha skin and piercing amber eyes that looked like they judged everything. Her hair was tied up in a tight high ponytail that didn't move even when the wind did.
"You did well surviving," she said calmly, crouching in front of me like we weren't surrounded by hell. "All we need now is to collect our master and—"
BOOM.
The second explosion cut her off.
This one was worse.
The cruise shi detonated, like something inside had been waiting for the right moment to finish the job. The sky lit up red. The sea turned red.
I turned slowly, already knowing I wouldn't be okay after what I was about to see.
Debris rained down. Chunks of metal. Shattered beams. Burning lifeboats.
And floating on the ocean, riding the scarlet waves, were dozens of bodies, some whole, some not whole.
Limbs bobbed between them. A severed hand still clutched a gun. A man's torso drifted past, eyes wide open, mouth frozen in a final scream. I saw one body split down the middle, burnt clean through, steaming in the water.
One had no face left. Another still twitched.
And I just… stared. I didn't scream. I didn't cry. I didn't vomit. I just watched.
I watched them float by like trash. Red water licking at their remains, all of them dead. Every single person on that ship was gone.
Even the ones who had begged. Even the ones who surrendered, if they existed.
I should've felt something. Terror. Horror. Nausea. Anything.
But I didn't. And that scared me more than the bodies.
"You didn't flinch," the woman in the suit noted, standing beside me now, arms crossed. "Good. We need people like you. People who understand that survival isn't a choice. It's a decision."
I didn't answer. I didn't need to. Because in that moment, I understood.
Survival wasn't just about living. It was about not breaking when everyone and everything else around you shattered.
It was about standing on a floating yacht surrounded by gore and death and knowing that your heart was still beating and your hands were still steady. It was about knowing that next time? You'd be the one pulling the trigger.
Someone was floating on the ocean.
I swear I thought I was hallucinating. After everything that just happened, it wouldn't be shocking if I saw a mermaid or something... but this? This was different.
That wasn't just someone. That was him.
"Wait," I blinked, leaning forward as the yacht sped toward the figure. "Is that…?"
"Yep," the woman replied dryly. "That's Phaser."
And of course it was. Who else could stand on the damn ocean like it was solid marble flooring?
The wind whipped through my hair, strands sticking to my wet cheeks. The closer we got, the more real it became. Mr. Phaser wasn't just surviving. He was posing like some cinematic final boss, just calmly floating on a platform of blood-slick water and debris.
But what really had my jaw halfway to the floor?
He was carrying two bodies, one in each hand like they were grocery bags. No grunting. No dragging. No visible effort. Just two soaked, unconscious men dangling from his grip like they weighed nothing.
When we pulled up next to him, he didn't say a word. He just stepped onto the yacht. His boots hit the deck with the softest thud, followed by the thump of his human cargo being dropped like sacks of rice.
I stared.
He actually brought them back. The President and the Faction Master. Unconscious. Alive. Wet. And very much not rotting with the rest of the traitors.
He leaned back against the railing, sighing like this had been just another morning.
"Thanks for the ride, Shannon."
Shannon gave him a look.
"You took your sweet time. The leader was worried you wouldn't fulfill your objective. That's why he sent me."
"Aw, he cares," Phaser said, smirking. "Tell him I'm touched."
I blinked. "Wait—the leader?"
Shannon just shrugged and cut the engine. The yacht bobbed slightly beneath us, but Phaser didn't seem fazed at all.
"Oh, Permonelle," Phaser said, glancing my way, "meet Shannon. Rogue Flux Elite. My subordinate and childhood friend. She punches harder than she looks and she complains twice as much."
Shannon rolled her eyes.
"You're lucky I like you."
"That's debatable."
"You're debatable."
I blinked between the two of them, my brain scrambling to process.
"You two are…" I tilted my head. "Old friends?"
"Unfortunately," she replied.
"Tragically," he added at the same time.
"Okay, but why did you bring these two alive?" I pointed to the unconscious bodies on the deck, water still pooling around them. "They literally tried to kill us."
"Well, yeah," Phaser said, rolling his shoulders. "But I'm under contract. Our organization needed them alive."
I squinted. "Our organization? But you said you weren't part of a faction…"
"I'm not. They don't own me. I'm just a very expensive… temporary asset. I pick and choose my jobs. They know not to push."
Shannon snorted. "More like they know you'll ghost them for six months if they annoy you."
"Exactly," he said, proud.
"And the whole mission… was just me?" I asked slowly.
"Yep."
"To protect me?"
"Angel's orders."
I blinked again. "Sera?"
"Yup."
I flopped down on the floor, wiping seawater from my face and trying to process how fast my life had turned upside down.
"So… what now? I'm being protected by international criminals. I'm now wanted by association. The cruise ship exploded. And now we're kidnapping world leaders."
"Don't forget," Phaser said lightly, "we're also technically war criminals."
"Oh my god."
Shannon laughed. Phaser grinned at me and raised an eyebrow.
"You in?"
I looked at the bloody ocean, the floating wreckag, the dead bodies. And then at the two unconscious men we just rescued-slash-abducted.
Then back at Phaser.
"Since when were we not criminals?" I muttered. "Let's get out of here."
"Spoken like a true survivor," Phaser said.
He handed me a towel.
I stared at it for a second and laughed because, really, what else could I do?Everything was hell.
But somehow, I wasn't scared anymore.